


The Practical Deadman

by Ealasaid, Pavuvu



Series: between the crosses [8]
Category: 1917 (Movie 2019)
Genre: Epistolary, Gen, Ghosts, Lore - Freeform, Miscellaneous Material, supplemental material
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:15:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27157148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ealasaid/pseuds/Ealasaid, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pavuvu/pseuds/Pavuvu
Summary: A Guide for the Practical Deadman,by Captain W. Schofield.  Contributions from Lt.-Colonel B. F. RichardsandMajor J. A. Blake.[miscellaneous material frombetween the crosses]
Relationships: Joseph Blake & William Schofield, Lieutenant Richards & William Schofield, William Schofield/Original Female Character(s), William Schofield/William Schofield's Wife
Series: between the crosses [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1656289
Comments: 14
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween, y'all!
> 
> [chapter 2 is a text-only version of this first chapter.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TA-DAAAAAAA~
> 
> All images and the digital manipulation were done by the fantabulous @Pavuvu! The writing was mostly @Ealasaid! Both of us are happy to share with you this little sneak-peek into many, many things 👀 
> 
> (Fun facts: the font used for the manuscript of the manual is called Ghostlight!)
> 
> As per the usual, updates on the series are offered on the series's blog, between-the-crosses.tumblr.com! Ghost Wedding Shenanigans research has well and truly begun -- expect that work either this winter or in the spring. In the meantime, @yonderlight's [Blood Moon](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23555416) series may be worth a reread if you want more supernatural shenanigans (Ealasaid is working on new chapters for _Monstrous Made)_ annnnnnnnnd ARMISTICE DAY IS COMING UP, Y'ALL!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [text-only version of previous chapter]

_ October 27, 1923 _

_ Dear Joseph, _

_ Well -- here it is. You asked for a written copy of my observations and experiences as a deadman and what in particular may be most interesting to one of the new ones. I found it an interesting exercise, setting these things down on paper. Given the weight of this package, I am sure you have surmised this is a bit more than a collection of notes. I am afraid this may be rather more than you expected.  _

_ Between Ben, Ellie, and myself, we have produced a manual of sorts. Yes -- I must admit that once Ellie found out why I was spending the evenings scribbling away, she insisted on involving herself. We were able to purchase a typewriter, as you and I had discussed, and she taught herself how to produce a manuscript neat enough even for the Army secretaries. The illustrations included are all Ben's work -- I know that even now, his reports make the rounds with their doodle-filled margins. It seems he had some formal training, though, and I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the quality. _

_ I have much to thank you for -- not only does Ellie adore how it is suddenly possible for her to send off her own manuscripts without involving half the town, the whole household is now lively with the endless clatter, ding, and muffled swearing of my wife in her weekly battle with the "damned Remmington beast." Frequently, she declares, "The inventors should have kept themselves to the redesigning of rifle barrels instead of portable writing machines!" right before diving back into the fray. Had she been on the Front, the Germans shouldn't have lasted so long, I'm sure.  _

_ Meanwhile, Callie, fascinated by all things chaotic, has announced she now intends to be a writer-naturalist. She has asked that I show her the old training regimen from the Army so that she can work up the necessary endurance to carry her own typewriter with her on her naturalist expeditions and "write from the field." The twins have recently taken to following her like ducklings as she marches about the garden (yes, even with winter coming on): Tycho, with terrific good humour, and Tom, as solemn as the grave. Neither her mother nor I have been able to persuade Callie that a pen and some paper will suit just as well, and so we have quite the parade every morning. _

_ How is Sophia? How are you, now, with little Benedetta? I must tell you, Ben refused to acknowledge her as Benedetta when I visited him last month -- he insists she is actually named Benjamina. I don't know why he's so fixated on this! I can't even remember the night you allegedly swore to name your firstborn after him, so how  _ _ he _ _ can -- I haven't the slightest. _

_ Hoping you are well, _

_ Will _

_ P.S. -- This is just a thought, but Ben's sisters all call him Benji and he loathes it. Perhaps if you were to start calling Benedetta such . . . ? _

~ * ~

**I. Introduction to the Office**

The Office of Deadman is a hallowed one, or so said the man who appointed me to it. I did not quite understand his meaning at the time, but came to realise what he truly meant was that, in many ways, ours is the last line of defense. 

There is nothing more precious in war than the human life it costs. Each life lost is a sacrifice, an unthinkable tragedy. Every man and woman willing to risk theirs for a greater cause is to be honoured -- and every man and woman who lost their lives for such a cause have a right to be taken home. 

That is why the deadman exists. You are there to make sure our men and women are taken care of, even after they die. You are there to make sure their souls safely pass on to rest in peace.

I and your superior officers assure you this is not an elaborate trick. Your job is literally to collect the souls of your slain comrades -- their ghosts -- and act as the guardian for their spirits until they can be safely carried by Death. It is a hard job. The weight of another's spirit is both greater and lesser than one might expect. So long as you approach this duty with clarity of purpose and determination, you shall be successful.

Meeting Death is already an intimidating prospect, so it is best not to indulge in theological explanations. There are no answers to be offered as to the existence of God, or what part He plays in this and being preoccupied with this question can be dangerous. Just know that you are the deadman and this is your duty. What comes after is not for us to know. 

**II. How to Be a Deadman**

In this section, I will endeavor to pass on some practical advice to upholding one's duties as the deadman.

Firstly, fortify yourself as necessary. By this, I mean that you should be prepared for all of the challenges of this office. While the deadman is essential, he is often isolated; his work is with the dead. All too frequently, his true duties are met with derision, disbelief, and denial.

Nor do they cease once the battle is over. Your ability to see, communicate, and shelter ghosts does not cease once your time in the Army is over; these are now talents you will have for the rest of your life. Even after, you will be granted greater clarity and understanding until Death, too, greets you as an old friend.

It is therefore essential that you make yourself aware of the others in your Regiment or Army who hold this office. You will be each others' greatest assets -- you, and you alone, know the true cost of the fighting. You, and you alone, have some understanding of what happens After. 

Secondly, ensure you have the right equipment. To stow ghosts, it is useful at first to have a particular object in which to store them in. Some use the buttons of their uniform; others, a particular piece of jewelry. In truth, ghosts can be stored in nearly any inanimate object, from the individual threads in your hems to the soles of your boots. However, while one is still becoming accustomed to the practice, a single object can often prove useful to focus one's efforts on.

Whatever you choose should be light and easily carried. This object will act as a temporary physical shell for the ghost to repose in until Death takes him or her to Otherside. A repurposed cigar tin makes an ideal practice object -- the imagery of opening the tin and closing the ghost inside is useful for a beginner. 

Lastly, cultivate subtlety. The less obvious you are about collecting ghosts, the less likely you will stand out or be ostracized by your fellow soldiers. Lying is essential in the deadman's line of work -- learn how to do it, and do it well. 

It is not necessary to lie to everyone about your duties, of course. One's personal life is one's own. However, I urge you to consider the consequences of permitting knowledge of your abilities to be made known. While in most cases it is likely you will be disbelieved, of late there are many people who greatly desire to contact the dead. For your own well-being, I recommend you do not make your abilities as a deadman common knowledge, if only to limit the demands of your family and neighbors.

**III. Types of Ghosts**

For the practical deadman, there are only two types of ghosts. One will be your line of work: new ghosts. The other will be less-frequently encountered, but it is still useful to know about them.

New ghosts are, by and large, the only ghosts. They are the spirits of the newly-dead. I have only twice in my life seen ghosts older than four or five weeks. Ghosts seem to vanish past that age; one can only hope that either they are found by one of us or they make their own way to a graveyard. However, within this range of age, differences in behavior can be observed. I will explore these differences here.

Ghosts of people who have just died do not always materialise immediately. However, they are still there. Over time, you can get the trick of calling someone's ghost out before it has managed to emerge itself, which can be useful when one is under fire. I do not recommend seeking practice in developing this skill. After much thought, I can only conclude that such practice necessitates either frequently being in intense battle, lurking about hospital wards, or watching a firing squad at work, none of which are pleasant. Safer, then, is to wait for the ghost to come out itself. I find it happens most often with the last breath, so it should not be a lengthy wait. 

Ghosts who have just died are always caught up in their last moments. Frequently they are lost in this most intense moment of their former lives. The most common behaviours I have observed are continuing to perform the actions they were at the time of their death. Often, they are compelled to remain close to their bodies. It takes time for them to break out of it; this can take longer than a week on its own, or can be sped along by outside intervention. 

No matter what, these newest ghosts are very fragile and prone to disruption. Running water can dissipate their spirits entirely in a matter of moments; rain is one of the most deadly phenomena a new ghost can encounter. The slightest shock can send them into reliving moments of trauma -- their own death, yes, or traumatic events occurring prior to their death. An acquaintance of mine, who died after digging a fellow soldier out from a collapsed tunnel, was frequently thrown into reliving that moment as opposed to his death, which occurred hours afterward. 

As a deadman working in a military unit, you will obviously come into contact frequently with the ghosts of the recently slain. I therefore feel it important to emphasize that these ghosts are frequently confused and rarely rational. The best way to interact with them is either to store them at once or to play on the instincts and patterns of their previous life. The latter frames the situation in a way they can better grasp rather than having to confront the fact of their death immediately.

As with many things in life, age brings wisdom and clarity. While I confess I feel I am still waiting to be so blessed, this adage is glaringly observable in ghosts.

Once a ghost has grasped the truth of his death, he rapidly manages to gain greater control over himself. A ghost who has accepted his death is not prone to confusion or disruption in the same way as ghosts of men who have just been killed. These ghosts, while weakened by rain, are able to manage to pass through it without problems; only the greatest explosive shocks truly cause them to lose coherence. Running water is not so much of a problem, either, but throwing one of these ghosts into a raging river will destroy his spirit just as surely as any newly-dead.

These ghosts are capable of self-possession and independent rational thought to a far greater extent. They can be asked to perform tasks, such as round up other ghosts in the area or convince their fellow dead to travel one way or another. They are able to stay cognisant of the situations they face and cope better with changing circumstances. They do not require as much trickery as newer ghosts, but as with any living being can be quite stubborn about one thing or another and may still require persuasion. Sometimes, the only way to convince them to allow themselves to be taken in is to help them with some task they feel they must pursue. 

The other type of ghost is far, far less common. I have only met one, personally, though I have heard of another. This means it is possible you shall come across one, and so I shall describe this kind as well. 

This ghost is a stable ghost. A stable ghost is the spirit of someone who has a clear reason for continuing to stay instead of passing. This manifests in some form of promise, usually, of being beholden to someone who is living, and may be expressed only as a sort of personal vow. Moreover, this ghost  _ cannot _ exist without an acknowledgement of his existence. A ghost bound by a promise made to someone who is alive will struggle to retain his resolve in the face of being unseen and unacknowledged. In other words, a stable ghost is only capable of existing so long as his promise is made to one of our kind or to someone with whom we are near, for we are the only ones who can see and hear him. 

It is not recommended that you encourage this sort of ghost to form. It requires active intervention on a deadman's part to maintain its existence and the extent to which this longevity of existence outside of Death's domain can damage the spirit is unclear. It is possible for this sort of spirit, even attached to a deadman, to wither away to nothingness, beyond our capability of recalling or reforming. The effect -- particularly if it is on someone one loves -- is a terrible thing to witness. 

The morality of being involved with this type of ghost is something only you can determine for yourself. Now that you know precisely what Death entails for the souls of every man, only you can say how great a culpability you wish to have by taking an interest in prolonging a ghost's existence should it make such a promise and determine to continue for another's sake.

Nevertheless -- no matter what ghosts you encounter, you must never forget that, newer or older, these are still spirits. Though some are more capable and can give the seeming of being as alive as they were in life, you must remember that they are only an echo of once they once were. They haven't a mortal, physical shell to protect themselves any longer. You are to provide that shell so that they may make it safely to Death and Its Otherside.

**IV. Types of Reaper**

Reapers are defined in this work as representatives or faces of Death. They are Death made manifest, in a form that can interact with the souls of human dead and some of the living. 

Obviously, you will know already how to meet this Reaper and become a deadman. If you do not, you have not been selected by the training programme. I shall not record the particulars here, for the talents of a deadman are not a gift. 

The Reaper one meets appears differently and is not always the same for each individual. I have never met a Reaper that is not a Grim, for example. However, during my time in the war and after, I have spoken to others who have not seen a Grim at all, but described different faces with whom their interactions took place. I have recorded these here.

The first kind, which I am most familiar with, are Grims. Grims take the form of a spectral black dog and are only found in graveyards. A single grave can constitute a graveyard, though I do not recommend directing ghosts to a single grave in hopes of them meeting the Grim without you carrying them -- far better to a churchyard or cemetary. 

Grims are friendly and often behave as real dogs do; if this is the Reaper you meet, you are likely to be greeted in exactly the manner one would expect of an enthusiastic hound meeting a new friend. Of note is that the Grim's appearance is not the same from Grim to Grim; the breed and size of the dog can vary considerably. I have seen everything from the wolfhounds of Ireland, those rangy, thin hounds, to the sheepdogs of France, stocky and energetic. All have only ever proven to be friendly. 

I have also heard that sometimes the Grim can appear as a white dog, paler than the moon. I knew one deadman who swore he had only ever seen the Grim as a white dog with glowing red eyes. As I have seen the Grim stand larger than a house on one memorable occasion, I am not inclined to doubt it is possible.

Another Reaper whom I have been told is possible to meet is the "Grim Reaper," perhaps more familiar to the audience. This Reaper takes the form of a cloaked figure carrying a scythe. The officer who selected me for my position shared with me in confidence that this was the reaper whom he first met. All through his career, this officer related, he had a sort of cordial acquaintance with the Grim Reaper, even sharing conversation in plain English on more than one occasion about topics of common interest. 

Unlike the Grim, this Reaper is apparently not constrained to a graveyard; the officer relating his experiences spoke of having met the Grim Reaper in battlefields after the fight had ceased and, on occasion, in places where no battle had occurred at all -- most often a hospital. It is possible to surmise that this type of Reaper simply appears when and where there is a significant loss of life. 

The third kind of Reaper, whose existence has been affirmed by other deadmen whom I have spoken with, is a banshee. This reaper appears as a woman in wild grief. She never appears with the same countenance twice and can appear to be of any age, but regardless of this she always looks as though she has been weeping inconsolably, her hair loose and disheveled and her clothing torn. Unlike the other Reapers I describe to you here, it seems that she will appear to others and that merely seeing her does not necessarily confer the talents of our office unless certain circumstances are met. 

She is not to be approached lightly. In some parts of Britain she is taken as an omen of death, namely the viewer's or someone close to the one who sees her. However, if one is seeking her to pass along the ghosts they carry, she may be found both in a graveyard as well as near any stream or river. The ideal location for finding her is a bank where it would be suitable for washing laundry; in such places, she will always be found washing the clothes of the dead. 

Several men have noted a fourth type of Reaper, one who also haunts waterways -- a Ferryman. You will never find this Reaper inside a graveyard unless you are by a river of sufficient strength. This Reaper is perhaps where legends of Charon came from -- or perhaps it is the other way around? -- and will always ask for a toll before taking your ghosts. If the ghosts haven't any, you can offer payment yourself; any coin is sufficient, even pennies. One comrade of mine relayed a time when some of his ghosts paid with their identification tags. 

When searching for this Reaper, it is best to check bodies of water in the earliest hours of the night. Streams and rivers and even the shallows along the coast line are common spots, but in times of great need, or a deadman's over-encumbrance, Ferrymen have been known to make their appearance within even the most lacking of ponds.

The last Reaper I have heard deadmen attest to the presence of is the Rider. This is a figure similar to the Grim Reaper, in that it is another cloaked manifestation; however, this Reaper always appears riding a great white horse. The Rider will never dismount, but draws ghosts to its care simply by riding past. On some occasions the Rider has been absent and only the horse was present, but the deadman for whom this happened related that the horse consented to carrying the ghosts along even so. 

Unlike other Reapers, it is rare for the Rider to acknowledge the presence of a deadman directly; he will pull ghosts from a deadman’s care just as he pulls them from the site of their deaths. 

I must admit that this is the least well-known Reaper in this list and I hesitate to include it as a result. The deadman who told me of this Reaper was killed shortly thereafter, and I have not met anyone else who has met this particular face of Death.

It is not possible to say which you shall meet. In the end, it also does not matter. What matters most is that the Reaper is the bridge to take the ghosts you carry and facilitate their final passing. 

**V. In Closing**

It is the hope of this author that this guide can offer the modern deadman practical knowledge and answers to practical questions. Most of all, I wish to reassure you that you are not the only one with these abilities nor the only one who has undertaken these duties. The fearsome friendliness of Death, the eerie isolation of carrying spirits, and the burden of knowing that the moment of death is not the end -- all of this is not something you and you alone have borne nor shall bear. 

No matter what happens, know that your service is appreciated. And, if you do your duty well, Death itself will not stand in your way. I pray that you do not need to test this and wish you well in your new Office.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TA-DAAAAAAA~
> 
> All images and the digital manipulation were done by the fantabulous @Pavuvu! The writing was mostly @Ealasaid! Both of us are happy to share with you this little sneak-peek into many, many things 👀 
> 
> (Fun facts: the font used for the manuscript of the manual is called Ghostlight!)
> 
> As per the usual, updates on the series are offered on the series's blog, between-the-crosses.tumblr.com! Ghost Wedding Shenanigans research has well and truly begun -- expect that work either this winter or in the spring. In the meantime, @yonderlight's [Blood Moon](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23555416) series may be worth a reread if you want more supernatural shenanigans (Ealasaid is working on new chapters for _Monstrous Made)_ annnnnnnnnd ARMISTICE DAY IS COMING UP, Y'ALL!


End file.
